The Pulpit Commentary — Zechariah — Section 90

pleasure in religious ordintmeeB. " Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; Tho fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts." "The fast of the fonrth month was on account of the taking of Jerusalem (Jer, xxxix. 2; Iii. 6-'i); that of the tenth was in commemoration of the commencement of the siege (Jor. Iii. 4). The Jews are distinctly informed that thcso fasts should be turned into festh·als of joy" (Henderson). The idea is, perhaps, that these fast-days are no longer sea,(1ns of mourning and penitential confession, but seasons of rejoicing, '!'he first sign of a true revival of religion, in an individual or a community, is e. new and happy interest in the ordinances of religion. 2. .A d,eep practi,ca,l, concern for the spiritual intere.sts qf tM race. " Thus saitb the Lord of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, nnd to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also." There will be a mutual excitation amongst the people to seek the one true and living God. Not only shall the inhabitants of one house go to another house, but the inhabitants of one city shall go to another city and say, "Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord." " Speedily;" there is no time to be lost; religion is for all, and for all an urgent duty. 3. .A universal desire to be identified with the people of God. "In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men [a definite number for an indefinite multitude, indicating many rather than a few] shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew." The Jew (the representative of the people of God), to him men shall go, they shall lay hold of the" skirt" of his garment-an expression conveying the idea either of anxious entreaty or conscious inferiority. Dr. Henderson says, in relation to this, "The prophecy is generally regarded as having respect to something yet future, and is often interpreted of the instrumentality of the Jews when converted in effecting the conversion of the world. I can find no such reference in the passage. 'Jerusalem' cannot be understood otherwise than literally,just as the term' Jew' is to be fiO understood; but according to our Lord's doctrine respecting the new dispensation, that city is no longer the place where men are exclusively to worship the Father (John iv. 21-23). Incense and a pure offering are now presented to bis Name in every place where his people assemble in the name of Jesus and with a view to his glory (Mal. i. 10, 11). lt was otherwise before the advent of Christ. Jerusalem was the place which Jehovah had chosen to put his Name there; and thither all his true worshippers were expected to come to the great festivals, in whatever country they might reside. Thus the treasurer of Candace went all the way from Abyssinia (Acts viii. 27), and thus numbers from all parts of the Roman empire assembled in that city at the first PentecoBt after our Saviour's resurrection. .AJ,, the Hellenistic Jews and the Gentile proselytes travelled along in companies, they could not but excite the curiosity of the pagans through whose countries and cities they passed ; an?, celebrated as the metro- polis of J ud!Ba bo.d become for the favours conferred upon 1t by some of the greatest monarchs of the times immediately gone by, and for the prosperity and warlike prowess of the Jewish people, it was impossible that it should not attract the attention of the surrounding nations to the character and claims of the God who was there adored, and who accorded such blessings to his worshippers. Men, for ages, had to go to the Jew for the trne religion; the Gentiles in the apostolic times received it from the Jew; Christ and hie apostles were Jews; but in these times the J ewe have to come to the Gentiles for the true religion. Still, inasmuch as the Bible is a book of the Jews, Jewish histories, poetries, moralities, etc., and inasmuch as the grand Hero of the book was a Jew, it will, perhaps, ever be true that all nations shall take hold of the Jew in order to' seek the Lord' with success." CoNCLUSION. When will this universal revival of religion take place? The signs are scarcely visible anywhere. We can only hasten it by attending to the prerequisites- trnthfulness in speech, rectitude in conduct, benevolence in feeling, and abhorrence of raJ.seho()Q..-D. T. cm. Ix, 1-17.] THE ROOK OF ZECHARIAtr. fl!)